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December 01, 2011
December 3 - International Day of the Disabled - Uganda
The following information was retrieved from the "Disability & Development" mailing list with a consent of the publisher, the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (IDE- JETRO).
Uganda Media Centre, Office of the President
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
PRESS RELEASE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Theme: “TOGETHER FOR A BETTER UGANDA: INCLUDING PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN DEVELOPMENT”.
1.O. Uganda joins the International community to mark the International Day of the Disabled (IDD) on 3rd December 2011. International Day of the Disabled was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 47/13 of October 1992 to commemorate the anniversary of the World Program of Action concerning Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly Persons with Disabilities.
The theme for this year is “Together for a better Uganda: Including Persons With Disabilities in Development”.
The aim of this day is to promote awareness among the public on the needs and rights of persons with disabilities. This is a day also when various stakeholder take stock of achievements they have made, challenges ahead and map out strategies for overcoming these challenges.
2.0 Inclusion of Person With Disabilities means the engaging the different abilities to create a culture of belonging in which persons with disabilities are valued , respected and given autonomy to including freedom to make their own independent choices to enable them fully participate in all spheres of development for sustenance.
3.0. According to the Uganda National Household Survey (2009/10) persons with disabilities constitute 16% of the population of Uganda. Going with this percentage, persons with disabilities are estimated at 5.1 million.
4.0. Persons With Disabilities are vulnerable by virtue of their impairment and negative societal attitudes arising from fear, ignorance, superstitions, neglect and lack of awareness of their rights. They usually receive less education, skills training, medical attention which reduces their employment opportunities and active participation in development activities. Consequently this discrimination and neglect ends their self-esteem, confidence and makes them dependent on their families and communities for survival.
5.0. The NRM Government has come up with measures to address the plight of persons with disabilities. It has ratified the Convention on the rights of Persons With Disabilities. The purpose of this convention is to promote, protect and ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and its fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. It has further, established the necessary National and Legal frameworks such as the National Council for Disability (2003) and Persons With Disability Act (2006) to promote rights and service delivery to Persons With Disabilities.
6.0.To promote participation in decision making processes at various levels, there are over 56,000 Persons with Disabilities participating in decision making bodies in the country. This is to ensure that their needs are articulated within the framework of decentralization emphasizes bottom-up approach to development.
To further promote the participation of Persons with Disabilities, Government put in place the Community Based Rehabilitation program to address issues of Persons With Disabilities.
Government has further established a special scheme to fund income generating activities among groups of Persons With Disabilities to improve on their livelihoods. Every year 3 billion Uganda shillings is sent to all district and municipalities of Uganda as seed capital.
A special Mine Action Victim assistance Program targeting land mine/UXO survivors in mine affected districts in Northern and some parts of Western Uganda is being implemented by Government. Here UXO/Land mine survivors and other Persons With Disabilities receive medical treatment and rehabilitation, psychosocial counseling, livelihood skills so that they can reintegrate into their communities.
7.0. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Disabled Peoples’ Organizations, such as National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda and all the Uni-disability organizations and development partners who have always worked together to form a strong unified voice. Uganda has one of the strongest disability movements in the world.
It is through this concerted effort between the Government and such organizations that challenges of Persons With Disabilities will be overcome.
To create awareness on the needs and rights of persons with disability, Government in collaboration with the disability fraternity has planned for a number of activities in the different parts of the country during the week and on 3rd December 2011.
I request you to provide coverage to those activities that will culminate in the activities for the D-Day.
Posted by jicafriends at December 1, 2011 03:25 PM